Every Breath
by Suadade
Summary: Sometimes it takes hard work and dedication to build a lasting relationship, sometimes all it takes is the truth.  SasukexNaruto later
1. A Day Gone Wrong

A/N This is a slow work in progress, I've had this in my head for a while but I've got a lot of classes right now so just be patient with me please. Also, there WILL be yaoi later on, if you don't like that, don't read this. It's simple really.

Even Sasuke wasn't quite sure how it had come to this, they had been going back to Konoha after a recon mission when suddenly hundreds of ninja appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them. His team had even gone through this same clearing on their way out to the recon site and there had been nothing more than a few squirrels and birds. They had, of course, been given the option to surrender-an option no respectable shinobi would ever take-before the fight had started. As he grimly sliced his way through opponent after opponent he was strategizing; soon enough the weaker ninja would be gone and he'd be forced to rely more on his jutsus and sharingan.

For anyone but their team this battle would almost surely result in death, but thanks to Naruto and the Kyuubi's nearly inexhaustible chakra it would be extremely unlikely if they lost. Currently twenty of his clones were decimating a section of the attacking force while he sent a clone to Sasuke and he himself helped the third member of their team, a new ANBU named Arata.

While Sasuke and the clone of Naruto leapt around, dealing out death and never getting in each other's way, the real Naruto had to constantly dodge the newer member's attacks because he never considered where his teammates were. Naruto constantly wondered how Arata had made ANBU and _why_ he had been placed on their team. Sasuke, of course, knew. Arata was endlessly bothering Tsunade, wondering why he was a jounin and wasn't allowed to join ANBU, he had the skills-on the rare occasion he used them. So she let him pass, but she put him on a team with Sasuke and Naruto because they were the best team-not in the number of successful missions or anything, just in how well they worked together. She figured if they could work together that well, they could handle keeping an eye on Arata as well.

Unfortunately, since he joined their team their number of successful missions had gone down. More and more often they'd come back covered in wounds; one time Sasuke had even been hospitalized because Arata hadn't been paying attention and Sasuke had to shove him out of the way of a deadly jutsu and had ended up catching most of it himself, another time Arata had actually stabbed Naruto in the side because he hadn't been keeping track of where his teammates were and didn't bother to make sure they weren't in range.

Out of the crowd of shinobi attacking them, a larger man with a giant stone hammer came and charged Naruto who was busy deflecting a katana that would have cut off Arata's head. He didn't have time to swing his own katana over to block the hammer and he couldn't move away because of the press of surrounding ninja so the hammer struck him squarely in the middle of his left arm. With a grunt of pain as he felt his arm break in several places, Naruto swiftly killed him and then slowly made his way towards Sasuke while telling Arata to follow him. Halfway there he turned and saw a man with a hand glowing with chakra outstretched coming straight at him. With no time to escape he just braced for impact, thinking the jutsu was merely a weird form of chidori because of how similar it looked. The moment it hit him, however, he knew it wasn't.

Sasuke heard a shout and looked over to where Naruto was and saw a ninja with a jutsu pressed against Naruto's chest that was growing redder and redder until a moment later it exploded and kill the man and most of the ninja around him. Sasuke ran as fast as he could to where Naruto had been flung and found Arata doing the right thing for once and protecting his fallen comrade. As Sasuke reached him he saw there was a large gash across his chest and that his eyes were glazed over as he fought his winded body for breath.

"Arata! Go back to Konoha! We're only a few hours away, run there, get reinforces. Make sure they bring Sakura or Tsunade, Naruto is going to need one of them. Go! _Hayakushiro_!" Sasuke yelled at Arata as he took up a defensive position over Naruto.

Arata gave him a questioning look at first but then took off running as fast as he could towards Konoha while Sasuke looked around and noticed how many shinobi the chakra explosion had killed and how many were weakened and would be easy to kill. The reinforcements wouldn't be necessary, but Sakura or Tsunade certainly would. Whatever had hit Naruto had hit him bad; the stubborn boy wasn't even trying to get back up.

With a slight grimace Sasuke took off to deal with the remaining enemy before they completely recovered from the blast. Even with whatever it was that took Naruto down there were still a lot of nin left and it took Sasuke the better part of an hour to dispose of them all. That done he sat down heavily next to Naruto to see how his sometimes friend sometimes rival fared.

Naruto was just lying there, eyes barely open, breathing normally for a few breaths, then not breathing for a few more. The pattern was regular but it was not good. It was so much worse than Sasuke had originally thought; while he knew that anything that took Naruto down was probably slowly killing him he didn't realize that it wasn't killing him slowly, it was killing him very quickly. There was no way Arata had gotten to Konoha yet and therefore no way that Sakura or Tsunade would get to them fast enough to save Naruto.


	2. Temporary Fixes

A/N For future reference, "**bolded words are kyuubi talking**" "quotations are normal speech" and "_italicized are thoughts_."

Sharingan swirling Sasuke entered Naruto's mind to talk to Kyuubi, hoping that he would have some answers for what the hell was happening.

The water that lapped around his feet was cold instead of its normal neutral temperature and Sasuke was sure that wasn't a good sign. As he walked forwards towards the giant gold bars that restrained the Kyuubi he saw that it had a paw up against the bars and that Naruto was slouched against it. Running the remaining distance Sasuke knelt next to his friend and looked up angrily at Kyuubi.

"What the fuck is going on? Why aren't you healing him like normal?"

"**I'm doing what I can you stupid human. Don't you know what hit him?**" At Sasuke's shake of his head Kyuubi growled and explained. "**I don't know how that human did it, but it was a jutsu that drained the chakra of whoever it touched.**"

"So that's why it exploded, it got too much of your chakra as well."

"**Yea, only it took almost all of my chakra. I don't have enough left to keep either of us alive for much longer. I give my chakra to him, and then I use it, back and forth. That's why he's breathing oddly. It's the only way I can keep both of us alive, but it won't last long so I hope you have some to spare-because for some stupid reason Naruto always needs you. Now either fix him or let me die in peace, either way, go away!**" Kyuubi spat at the shocked Uchiha.

As Sasuke opened his eyes in the physical world again he noticed that Naruto's hand was clutching his arm and that his eyes had closed all the way. Scooping up the slightly smaller man Sasuke desperately searched for the hideout he knew had to be nearby to house all the ninja that had ambushed them.

More by accident than skill he stumbled upon an entrance hidden in a large clump of bushes, a cleverly concealed trapdoor. Cautiously he stepped silently into the dark hallway that suddenly widened into a long room, finding a switch he flipped it on to see many rows of cots lining both walls. Gently Sasuke laid Naruto on a cot in a corner and set to work.

He knew he didn't have enough time to secure all the rooms he was sure were in the underground compound, so he just did the best he could making sure the room they were in was safe. With wires and other traps set over the stairs and the three hallways leading away he had found Sasuke turned back to the prone ninja lying on the cot. He took two soldier pills and two blood pills out of his pack and forced half of them down Naruto's throat before looking at the giant gash on his chest.

It was bad, deep as well as long, and far more than Sasuke was confident dealing with. Grimly he started tore a sheet off another bed and tore it to shreds to use as a bandage. With another sheet and the leg off a cot he make a splint for Naruto's badly broken arm. He was fairly certain there were no other injuries-except maybe a cracked rib or two-so he set to work forcing his chakra into Naruto's system so the Kyuubi could focus on healing himself and so Naruto would have a plentiful supply.

Only when he was sure Naruto was relatively stable did he let out a long sigh and sit back. He looked himself over and grimaced, he definitely needed to have Sakura teach him some basic healing skills. A small but deep cut on his right arm was bandaged and innumerable smaller scratches were simply ignored by sheer force of will.

And so began his long vigil. He made sure Naruto had plenty of borrowed chakra while his own built up, he changed their bandages frequently, and he only took the shortest of naps for fear that some enemy would be left alive and would ambush them while Sasuke was asleep.


	3. Silent Birds

A/N For future reference, "**bolded words are kyuubi talking**" "quotations are normal speech" and "_italicized are thoughts_. Also, I may switch around (slight spoilers) calling Kyuubi that and Karuma since we've recently found out that's his real name XD

Naruto came to with the feeling of something icy wrapped around his wrist, something heavy resting against his knee, and a deep ache in his chest. With a soft grunt he peeled his eyes open to see that the icy thing wrapped around his wrist was Sasuke's hand and the weight against his knee was Sasuke's head. Wondering at their strange position Naruto opened his mouth to say 'What the fuck Sasuke!' but what came out was a raspy

"-'ske"

Instantly Sasuke's head jerked up and his fingers tightened slightly on Naruto's wrist. He searched the blue eyes for a moment before letting out a sigh and leaning back tiredly.

"Thank Kami you're awake," Sasuke said with uncharacteristic emotion.

Naruto just looked slightly confused at this. "Sasuke, what happened?" Groaning he tried to sit up before Sasuke jumped up and pushed him back gently.

"What happened is that you're a moron," Shooting a glare at Naruto to stop his interruption Sasuke continued, "You let someone hit you with an unknown jutsu that drained you of all your chakra and took nearly all of the fox's as well. You've been unconscious for the last _four days_ and I've been giving you my chakra to keep you alive. We're five days from Konoha and you've got a giant wound on your chest, your arm is broken in three places, and you have at least one cracked rib. AND we camped in the enemy's bunker because it was the safest place I could get you to in time. Now go ahead and tell me you're not a complete and utter _moron!_" Sasuke ended with sudden venom.

Naruto's mouth dropped open, both at Sasuke's rant and at what had happened before raising a hand to his chest to feel the makeshift bandages Sasuke had placed there. "It hurts."

"Of course it fucking hurts! There is a deep, long cut across your chest-and I don't know how to heal," Sasuke muttered darkly as he ran and hand through his hair, the obvious tension in his body directly opposite the nonchalant tone he used.

'Hmph. So what about you? Any impressive war wounds to rival mine?" A grin split Naruto's face as he returned to his smiling self.

"Just a scratch on my arm."

"So wait, even with Karuma's chakra I almost _die_ and all you have is a fucking scratch? _Teme!_" Naruto huffed out before wincing slightly at the pain it caused his cracked rib.

"Well his chakra sort of exploded and took care of most the nin, they rest were pretty bewildered so I managed to kill them pretty easy before getting you away. That and I'm a better ninja than you anyway, _dobe_."

"No you fucking aren't-wait. What about Arata? Is he ok?"

At this Sasuke snorted, "Yea, he's fine. I sent him back to Konoha for reinforcements the moment you went down. He should be back there by now… but I'm not sure how soon anyone will get here."

"Oh well, this seems like a nice joint to hang out in!"

This made Sasuke snort even louder, "Yea, if you don't mind the constant threat of the enemy's return or the fact that we have no supplies."

"Ok. This is boring then. So what are we going to do to pass the time?" Naruto asked as he peered around the dark room. "Hey, _teme_, why is it so dark in here?"

"I didn't want the light to give us away, also this way if they attack during the day they won't be adjusted to the light. That and with it dark they won't see all the trip wires on the stairs. Now take these, you are going to keep watch while I finally get some decent rest," Sasuke forced Naruto to take a blood pill and a soldier pill before he grabbed Naruto's wrist and laid down his head as it was before.

"Uh…Sasuke…why don't you sleep on one of the cots instead of my knee?" Naruto asked, shifting uncomfortably away from the raven hair.

"Hn" was all Sasuke would say.

"Am I really that bad off? I don't feel too bad…."

"Tell me, moron, can you feel any of your chakra or Karuma's?"

"….no…."

"That's because Karuma is basically hibernating-if demon foxes do that-to rebuild his chakra stores and you still barely have any. The only reason you're breathing right now is because I gave you some of my chakra. Now shut up, listen for enemies, and let me sleep!" With a final glare that made Naruto grin sheepishly, Sasuke shut his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Sasuke awoke some time later, refreshed for the first time since this stupid mission had started. He wondered what had woken him from such a peaceful nap so he slowly sat up and stretched out, glancing around the room before his eyes finally settled on Naruto's prone form.

"Shit! Naruto!" Sasuke said as he quickly leaned forward and put one hand against Naruto's throat to feel the pulse there before glancing up into the now open blue eyes that, if he didn't know better, he would swear were silently laughing at him.

"Overreaction much, Sasuke? I'm just lying here listening, like you told me to. Not like I can do much to entertain myself when I can't get up and you're holding on to my one good arm." Sure enough, amusement laced his voice as he pulled Sasuke's hand away from his neck.

"And just what were you going to do with only one hand to entertain yourself?" Sasuke asked dryly before realizing what he just said. He turned a faint shade of pink that didn't hold a candle to the bright red Naruto turned.

"Not that you pervert! I was gonna, I don't know, draw on the wall or practice seals or something."

"Whatever."

After a few moments of slightly uncomfortable silence Naruto said, "There's nothing but animals for miles around here anyway."

"You have no chakra of your own to sense others, so how would you know that?"

"Benefits of having a big old fox sealed in me since I was born, I have awesome hearing and smell!" Naruto grinned before suddenly realizing he was still holding Sasuke's arm and let go with a faint blush.

"Hn," Sasuke muttered as he left Naruto's side to grab a sheet he had ripped apart the day earlier. "If you're awake you're going to be useful, lean forward as much as you can."

Naruto went to lean forward but only made it a few inches before he flopped back with sweat beading his forehead. "Can't," was all he muttered. Sasuke frowned for a few seconds before putting Naruto's good arm around his neck and making him grab the back of his shirt to keep himself up.

Sasuke unwound Naruto's bandage as gently as he could but Naruto still hissed in pain when his wound was finally uncovered. As quickly as he could Sasuke made sure it was clean before winding it in the new bandage and gently laying Naruto back down, leaving both of them rather red in the face.

Before Sasuke could move away entirely Naruto gripped his shoulder hard. "Sasuke, the birds went quiet."

"Shit."


	4. Sudden Hope

Sasuke reached over to where his katana was set on the floor and then pushed Naruto down hissing, "Lie still, you idiot. You can't even sit up, let alone fight. I'll keep them away, just play dead or something!" Swiftly he moved to stand next to the bottom of the stairs, avoiding small traps he had set with ease.

For once luck was on his side, it was high noon outside so all the ninja entering the dark stairwell were effectively blinded by the dark. The first four hit all the trip wires on the stair and came tumbling down like genin on their first mission. Sasuke allowed himself a small smirk before he killed the fallen ninja with the others none the wiser.

The others crept more carefully down, but the first still make the mistake of sticking his head out to look around. In mere moments, he was able to look back up at his body from the floor. The next two rushed down together, swords drawn.

Sasuke engaged them and managed to keep them blocking the stairwell while he cut at them before a third, much larger, man barged through and directly attacked Sasuke with a giant hammer that he must have taken from the man that smashed Naruto's arm. Grimly Sasuke avoided his blows until he was able to dispatch him.

With only two ninja left Sasuke went headlong for the one closer to where Naruto was, unfortunately the other pulled out a few kunai and started edging around Sasuke and the nin he was fighting.

Sasuke saw the kunai fly past him, heard a loud movement and then crash, and heard Naruto cry out. In the moment he looked towards Naruto the man he was fighting thrust his katana through Sasuke's side.

Knees buckling, Sasuke let out a grunt before swinging his own katana up and decapitating the man before he could remove his sword. Pulling the katana out of his stomach he attacked the last man that was slowly walking towards Naruto lying prone on the floor. Soon he, too, joined his fallen companions on the floor. But Sasuke had no time to rest.

He ran to Naruto's side, horrified to see blood coming from his mouth. Gently he slid his arms under his friend and put him back on the cot.

"Sasuke…I dodged the kunai…but the floor snapped my rib I think," Naruto muttered softly with his eyes clenched tightly shut.

Sasuke let his hands trail softly over Naruto's ribs, feeling that the cracked rib had indeed broken. Worse, Sasuke was pretty sure it had pierced his lung; it would explain the blood he was coughing out.

Naruto opened one hazy blue eye, dulled by pain and blood loss. "Sorry Sasuke, guess you did this all for nothing."

Sasuke leaned forward and pressed his lips viciously to Naruto's own, feeling him stiffen slightly before moving back ever so subtly. When Sasuke drew away he could taste Naruto's blood on his lips and Naruto's eyes were even hazier.

"Wha-"

"You can ask me back in Konoha, because you are _not_ dying here. All these years you've been chasing after me and bringing me back, now it's my turn," Sasuke smiled slightly as he watched Naruto's eyes slip shut.

"'Ske, the birds… they're still silent."

Cursing vividly, Sasuke took his shirt off and tore strips out of a nearby sheet. Swiftly making and makeshift bandage he put his shirt back on with his armor over top of it. He stayed by Naruto's side, hand on wrist, feeling his life slowly slip away while he waited for whoever Naruto had heard outside.

It was probably an hour later when he heard soft steps and softer curses at the blackness from the top of the stairs. Rising, Sasuke grabbed his katana once more and when to meet them. He grabbed the first one down and thrust him against a wall with a kunai at his throat, the next one down the stairs was met with a katana point in his face.

"Calm down," said the man with the katana in his face, practically against his ANBU mask. Sasuke just growled at him as another nin came slowly down the stairs, hands up as she pushed her mask up.

Pink hair.

"Sakura," Sasuke dropped his weapons, not even caring as his precious katana hit the floor. "Hurry, Naruto's over here."

Sakura took one look at Naruto and gasped before setting to work, hands aglow. "Make him sit down you guys, he looks dead on his feet," she said to the men behind her about Sasuke.

Sasuke felt hands pressing him down onto a cot and barely resisted. "I'm fine! Let me up."

"Sasuke, if Arata is able to hold you down, you are not fine. Shut up and listen to common sense for once," The deep voice was familiar, but Sasuke wasn't able to place it until he looked up and saw his posture and the bird design on his mask. "If not, I'm sure Sai will be more than happy to use a seal to hold you in place."

"Fine, Neji. Just let go," As Arata and Neji's hands disappeared Sasuke sat up against the wall, hissing slightly as the movement jarred his wound.

"You hurt dickhead?" Sai asked as he leaned against the wall, smiling his creepy smile, and staring out over the corpses littering the floor. Sasuke resisted the urge to punch him, and urge he always seemed to have when Sai was around, and remained silent.

"Sasuke?" He heard the warning edge in Sakura's voice and knew that even if she was completely preoccupied with healing Naruto, she wanted an answer to Sai's question, and she wanted it _now_.

"I'm fine. Barely hurt," He was lying through his teeth, of course, but Naruto needed to be her top priority. Sasuke could make it to Konoha, he'd collapse there.

After two hours of working nonstop to fix Naruto's punctured lung and start the wound on his chest healing Sakura sat down tiredly. All the eyes in the room stared at her expectantly as she took a sip of water from a bottle Kiba handed her.

"He'll be fine. He probably would have been dead long ago-even if he hadn't lost _all_ his chakra-days ago if not for you Sasuke."

Sasuke just gave his customary "Hn," but inside he was elated.

"Come on, boys, let's head home. And this time we can take it a bit slower instead of rushing headlong night and day."

With that everything was swiftly packed up and before Sasuke really knew what was happening they were headed back to Konoha-Naruto on a stretcher held between Kiba, Neji, Arata, and Sakura while Sai kept pace with Sasuke behind them and Akamaru ran ahead scouting.

D


	5. Slight Complications

Their journey had little conversation, which was always ideal for Sasuke, but odd considering Naruto was with him. Only Naruto hadn't yet woken up again and Sasuke was convinced he was still grievously injured. On the third day of their journey Sasuke finally gave in to his worry and approached Sakura.

"Why is the moron still asleep?" he-attempted-to casually ask Sakura as they made camp that evening.

"Because he's living off of his own chakra now, and while it's enough to keep him alive it's not enough for him to be conscious yet. He'll wake up in his own time, probably in a couple days after we're back in Konoha." Sakura looked him over critically for a moment, noting that he was even paler than normal and that his eyes were over bright-probably because of a fever. "Sasuke, are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes."

"Hmph. Fine, but don't think you can avoid me long once Naruto's safe back home. I know you're nowhere near 'fine'."

Sasuke just walked away from her and towards the bedroll he had set up, or rather, that Neji had set up for him. "Hey Neji, how did you guys get to us in only five days anyway? I thought it would have taken Arata that long just to make it to Konoha."

"Arata made it to Konoha in two days and we headed out only slightly slower," Neji eyed him before continuing, "You shouldn't be so hard on him."

"You've never seen him fighting. Naruto and I have to dodge his attacks more that we had to dodge the enemy's. He's impossible, he's not fit for genin missions, let alone ANBU," he snorted, "Besides, _you're_ telling_ me_ not to be so harsh on someone? That's a bit hypocritical."

Neji just shrugged and laid down to sleep.

By late the next day they were slowing to a walk as they went up the road to the front gate of Konoha. The guards at the gate seemed shocked to find two of their company-Naruto and Sasuke no less-in such haggard condition and asked what had happened. The only answers they got were promises of 'I'll tell you later'. The civilians and few ninja on the road moved quickly aside for them as they made their way to the hospital.

Soon Naruto was set up in a bed, an IV drip keeping him hydrated, a fresh bandage across his chest, and a real splint for his arm. That done Sakura turned to Sasuke who had been hovering nearby.

"Your turn."

"No."

Sakura turned to Neji, Sai, and Arata-Kiba had left with Akamaru to inform a concerned Kakashi that his students were alive-and said, "I'm going to get a room ready, either convince him, or drag him."

She gathered more bandages and was just grabbing an ointment when she heard several small crashes and then a much larger one. Dropping everything she ran down the hallway to find Arata on the floor against the wall, slowly getting up, with a hole on the opposite wall matching his size rather well. Slowly she walked into the room to see Neji in a heap on the floor and Sai clutching his arm while contemplating Sasuke who was just standing there, hardly breathing hard.

"I am staying with Naruto until he wakes up." Was all he said, a hard edge in his voice.

Shaking her head all Sakura could think to say was, "Don't sleep in the chair," before she all but dragged Neji out the room. "We'll get him tomorrow," she said to the three boys once they were in the hallway.

The next morning saw Sasuke trying to rub the crick out of his neck that he had gotten sleeping in the chair next to Naruto's bed. He stretched, groaning slightly, before turning to see Naruto's bright blue eyes staring at him.

"And again I wake up with your head on my knee," Naruto just shook his head, laughing lightly, "So, how long this time?"

"Just a bit over four days again. Is this how long you'd sleep without an alarm clock?" Sasuke asked dryly, one hand resting over the wound in his side, the other rubbing his tired eyes.

Out in the hallway a very different conversation was taking place. Sakura, Sai, Neji, and Arata were planning their attack. Or they were, until a very unexpected someone showed up.

"Kazekage-sama! What are you doing here?" Sakura asked after she heard footsteps and looked up to see Gaara there.

"I heard Naruto was badly hurt, but it seems like it was Sai as well," he motioned to the splint on Sai's broken arm.

"No, that was Sasuke's doing. He refused to let us treat him even though I'm sure he's badly hurt. He knocked out Neji, broke Sai's arm, and then sent Arata through the wall." Gaara looked mildly surprised and was about to say something when the man they were talking about opened the door.

"Sakura, Naruto's awa-" was all he got out before a wall of sand hit him and slammed him into a wall, effectively trapping him.

They ninja in the hallway walked into the room to see Sasuke coughing and panting against the wall while Naruto threw his blankets off and stiffly got out of the bed.

"Gaara, stop it," Naruto said as sand gently swirled around him, trying to push him back into the bed. "What are you doing here anyway? Never mind, let Sasuke down!"

"No," When Naruto looked like he was going to protest Gaara gestured to Neji, Sai, and Arata, "Look at them."

Naruto looked at his friends and then back to Sasuke who was busy glaring at everyone in the room, "You did that in the shape you're in? I hate to admit it, but I'm impressed!"

"What do you mean the shape he's in?" Sakura asked as she shooed the other ninja out with orders to go home or go on missions or _something_ because there were already enough angry men in this room, thank you very much!

"He's got a giant wound in his side, I don't know what hit him and I didn't have time to ask. Sorta passed out pretty soon after."

"Naruto, why isn't Karuma healing you?" Gaara asked curiously as he moved his sand so Sakura could get to Sasuke's side.

"He isn't there-"

"What?"

"No, no, not like that. I mean, I don't know…Sasuke's the only one who's talked to him since I got hit. Evidently he's sleeping or something, trying to gather chakra, I don't really know."

Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly at Sasuke as Naruto drifted over to stand right behind Sakura as she unwound the bandages from Sasuke's side.

"You fucking moron!" Naruto let out the same time Sakura gasped and Sasuke hissed in pain as his wound was revealed. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?'

"I had to take care of you first _dobe_-"

"By_ dying?_" Naruto's head began to swim as he gasped for breath.

"Naruto, sit down. You don't have enough chakra to be shouting and getting all worked up. Sasuke, shut up so I can dress your wound," Sakura ordered them as she bustled about the room.

Gaara helped Naruto back to his bed where he sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, head upon them, and arms draped over; desperately trying to catch his breath. Sasuke looked at him with concern and with a slight glare for Gaara as he sat on the foot of Naruto's bed.

"Can you let me down?"

"Why? We've finally got you still," Sakura murmured around the needle in her mouth as she prepared to stitch up his wound.

"I won't move."

"Still, why? You're perfectly fine up there."

Sasuke sighed in frustration as he was forced to admit his weakness, "It's hard to breathe." Soon he was lying back on the bed, breathing easier and finally free of the sand. Free, that is, until Gaara sent it to hold down his arms and legs again. "Dammit Gaara!" he snarled.

After Sasuke's wound was cleaned, sewn, and wrapped in a clean bandage she turned to him, hands on hips. "There was something in there, I don't think it was poison or anything, but I'm still going to check it out. I agree with Naruto on this for once though, you are a moron. That could have gone bad and you'd have been dead very quickly. If you _ever_ get hurt like that again and don't tell a medic, I _will_ beat some sense into you. And don't think I can't. Now, how's Naruto doing?"

"Asleep."

At Gaara's answer both Sakura and Sasuke looked past Gaara to see Naruto asleep in the same position he had sat down in.

Sakura gave a snort of amusement before saying "I'll be back later to check on you guys, Sasuke stay still, I have to take this sample to Tsunade."

"Where is she anyway? I wanted to speak with her," Gaara asked as he rose from Naruto's bed.

"I'd rather you waited a bit," Sakura hesitated, "She wore herself out healing Naruto…when she was sure he'd survive she sort of drank herself into a stupor." She put a hand on her forehead, pushing stray hairs back, "I've never seen her look so terrified as she did when we brought Naruto in, it was…it was bad."

So saying she walked out and left the three of them alone. The rest of the day was rather boring for Sasuke, he couldn't fall asleep and he still wasn't permitted to move-thanks to Gaara's sand. Naruto woke up after a couple hours and meandered around the room restlessly. He laughed at Sasuke's predicament and seemed to want to tell him something, but finally decided it could wait much to the relief of Sasuke.

That evening Tsunade finally came in the room. She looked tired and pale and there were deep bags under her eyes. She gave only a brief glance to the hole in the wall before she stood in the middle of the room, hands on hips, looking at Naruto and Sasuke.

"I'm letting you guys go home, I know if you're awake you'll only tear apart the hospital until you get out-and thanks to Sasuke we've already got a hole in one wall. You have two choices. One; you both go to your homes and I send someone with each of you to look after you. Naruto, your chakra isn't fully back and you're going to be faint for a few days. Sasuke, your wound was only stitched, not completely healed, you'll need someone to help you with things. Plus we still don't know what that substance was," She put down a finger as she continued, "Option two; you guys go to one of your homes and watch out for each other. Your choice."

"I don't need to be babysat!" Sasuke spat at her at almost the same time Naruto shouted "I can take care of myself just fine!"

"Good! That's settled then, since you can both look after yourselves just fine, in your opinion, you can look after each other. You choose who's place to stay at, I'm not going to go running all over town to find you if we figure something out about this," With Sasuke still openly glaring at her and a scowl on even Naruto's face she went on, "Don't make me have Kakashi and Iruka watch you, they have better things to do than babysit a couple of spoiled ANBU."

As Tsunade turned and walked out of the room Sakura feared for her sensei's life for a moment as Sasuke glowered at her retreating back in anger and frustration before flopping his head back against the pillow.

"_Now_ will you let me go Gaara?" he asked in a voice far too patient to be sincere.


	6. Trials of Life

They arrived at the Uchiha manor after a short detour to Naruto's apartment to get some of his stuff; Sasuke had flat out refused to stay in such a small space with Naruto. Sighing he let the small bag of stuff he had carried for Naruto drop onto the couch and put his armor and weapons on the table in the kitchen before stopping to look at Naruto who was fidgeting by the door.

"Come on, _dobe_, put your stuff wherever. We'll sort it out later, it's not like you haven't been over here before."

"Sasuke…" Naruto started uncomfortably. Sasuke stared, intrigued, it wasn't like him to hesitate about anything. "Sasuke, why did you kiss me?"

Oh, so that was what he was concerned about. So Sasuke replied calmly; like it was the most obvious thing in the world, like he said it a million times a day his entire life, when both of them knew for a fact he had never said it before, "Because I love you."

Naruto dropped his bags and launched himself across the room to wrap his arms around Sasuke's neck and vigorously attack his lips. Sasuke had snaked his arms around the ever-so-slightly smaller boy's waist and started kissing him back when he felt Naruto go limp.

Tsunade had said Naruto would be faint for a few days and any over exertion could make him pass out, but Sasuke had not expected this. He sank down on to his couch, Naruto still held against his chest, and just laughed.

The man who few could attest to ever seeing a genuine smile on and who hated close contact with anyone was sitting on his couch, another man on his lap, laughing.

Naruto awoke some minutes later to find himself snuggling into something hard and warm. He blinked open his eyes to see Sasuke's head leaning against the back of the couch, eyes barely open and watching him.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed as he realized what had happened, "This is going to be way more annoying than I thought."

"You're telling me, now get off," Sasuke said as he unceremoniously dumped Naruto on the ground. Naruto hit the floor with a grunt and rolled to his feet grabbing his bags. Sasuke watched as he marched off to put his stuff in one of the rooms before he turned to the kitchen and starting making some ramen since he knew he'd get no peace until his blonde friend ate it.

The smell of ramen drew Naruto back to the kitchen where he bothered Sasuke until it was done cooking, then he ate it quickly and messily, earning glares and threats of making him do all the cleaning from the Uchiha.

The rest of the evening passed more or less uneventfully, Naruto only broke one lamp and knocked over a few pieces of furniture. When Sasuke went to change and go to sleep he found that all Naruto's stuff was in his room. He turned to face Naruto, his expression demanding an explanation, only to be met with a red-faced fidgety Naruto.

Sighing for the millionth time that day he grabbed his dark blue sweatpants and headed to the bathroom to shower. When he got back he found Naruto already asleep and taking up most the bed. Pushing and prodding his friend he finally managed to salvage some of the bed for himself, stealing back his own blankets he wrapped himself up and fell asleep.

A sudden crash had Sasuke flinging his blankets back and walking swiftly and silently across his house to the room the sound had come from.

"Sorry," Naruto said sheepishly from a pile of bowls and plates on the floor as he saw a tousled Sasuke enter the kitchen to glare at him, "I was trying to make breakfast and I wanted the bowl on the top, but I fell off the counter."

Sasuke just shook his head and started grabbing things from around Naruto and putting them back, all except the pale red bowl with white swirl patterns that he knew Naruto had been going for. Handing it to him, Sasuke turned and grabbed an apple off the counter before flopping on the couch to eat it.

Naruto snorted softly as he made himself some breakfast, no one had ever accused Sasuke of being talkative in the mornings-even compared to his normally silent self.

The rest of the day passed more or less the same as the day before; albeit the quietest day ever spent in the company of Naruto, and definitely the least argumentative day that Naruto and Sasuke had ever spent together. The only thing of note that happened was when Sasuke came out of the shower to go to bed; he found Naruto once again asleep sprawled out. Kicking the sleeping boy out of bed Sasuke refused to let him sleep until he had taken a shower.

The next morning Sasuke woke up and felt unusually heavy and warm. It took him several seconds before he realized the weight across his side was an arm draped over him and the reason his back and neck were warm was because Naruto was lying flush against him. Naruto's wake up, however, was far less pleasant.

"What the fuck Naruto!" Sasuke shouted the moment he came to his realization.

Naruto shot backwards off the bed, arm dragging a side table over and breaking the lamp on it. As he and Sasuke stared at each other for a few brief seconds-Naruto bright red, Sasuke startled-Sasuke had to start laughing. Naruto's legs were still up on the bed, his butt on the floor, and the sheets were tangled about him so not only did he look incredibly silly, he was also so red from embarrassment and surprise. Within moments, however, Sasuke's laughs turned to coughs and almost immediately Naruto was kneeling on the bed behind him, supporting him as he gasped for breath.

Once he had gotten himself under control again Sasuke leaned weakly back against Naruto's chest. Naruto, for once, wasn't quite sure what to do with himself; he just let his arms drape over Sasuke's shoulders while he waited to see if the other was going to get up any time soon. When it looked like he had fallen back asleep Naruto gently slipped out from behind him and stood next to the bed, reaching a hand out to lift his shirt and check on his wound-that is, until a firm grip around his wrist stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Naruto looked up to see black eyes staring at him.

"Stripping you obviously," Naruto rolled his eyes as the other's eyes widened fractionally, "You were coughing pretty badly; I want to check on your side, make sure it didn't reopen or something."

Sasuke just grunted and let Naruto pull his shirt up, hissing softly as cool hands ghosted over the stiches in his side. The fingers gently prodded the surrounding area, noting when Sasuke grimaced or grunted. Naruto frowned slightly as he let Sasuke pull his shirt back down and then helped him up.

"You're going back to the hospital tomorrow, your wound shouldn't still be hurting that much, especially not in that large of an area," When he caught the mumbled "I'm fine" Naruto smacked Sasuke upside the head, "No you're not _teme_."

As they reached the kitchen Sasuke shook his head at Naruto who started to make ramen for breakfast. Grabbing an apple and noting that he'd have to get more soon Sasuke flopped onto his usual position on the couch and proceeded to eat his apple while ignoring all the sounds from the kitchen.

Before long Naruto plopped next to him on the couch, ramen in hand, and began eating like there was no tomorrow. As he neared the bottom of his bowl he had a look of concentration that suddenly turned to mischief.

"Hey Sasuke, guess what?" setting his bowl on the floor Naruto didn't wait for an answer, "I can feel my chakra now, I'm almost back to normal. Know what that means?" Sasuke just flicked his apple core at the blonde who grinned and continued in a lower, huskier voice, "That means I won't pass out anymore."

Before he could register what had happened Sasuke found himself being straddled and fingers tangling in his hair. As he opened his mouth to form a question Naruto pounced.

Lips crashed together as Naruto pressed against Sasuke, pushing him back into the couch, fully taking advantage of the fact that Sasuke had opened his mouth. Sasuke groaned lightly as he felt a tongue exploring his mouth, tracing over teeth and encouraging his own tongue to play. He wrapped his arms around the other's waist, pulling them closer together, and chased Naruto's tongue back into his mouth. As he explored the other's mouth they both tasted blood as Sasuke realized Naruto's canines were sharper than he thought.

It wasn't until Naruto ran his hands down Sasuke's sides that they broke apart, he had forgotten that Sasuke still had a very sore side. As Naruto's hands brushed over his wound Sasuke let out a small cry and pushed Naruto back enough so he could curl an arm over his stomach.

"_Dobe,_" he gasped out quietly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot!" Sasuke looked up to see Naruto's anxious-and very flushed-face inches from his own. "Sorry," he murmured again before climbing off Sasuke and grabbing his bowl up from the floor to go clean it.

Sasuke followed him, once Naruto arrived at the sink he found an arm on either side of him. Unperturbed he washed the bowl before slowly turning around with a grin before draping his arms over Sasuke's shoulders.

"Did you want something, hmm?" he asked, blue eyes bright and filled with mischief.

"Yea, actually," Sasuke smirked before grabbing a piece of paper from behind Naruto and walking away, "We need to get groceries, you're eating all my food," at the door he turned to see Naruto's dejected face and his smirk grew, "Come on, _dobe_, or no ramen."

That got him moving.


End file.
